This invention relates to a watercraft and more particularly to several improved features of watercraft.
Many of the small personal type watercraft employ a seat that accommodates the rider and possibly additional passengers seated in straddle fashion and when plural riders are accommodated they are seated in tandem fashion. This requires a provision of a pair of relatively low foot areas so that the riders can be seated comfortably and this reduces the area in which the engine, propulsion unit and exhaust system can be employed. In order to accommodate this situation, it has been proposed to mount the engine either entirely or partially and/or the propulsion unit and/or the transmission which connects the engine to the propulsion unit all or partially beneath the seat. This gives rise to difficulties to accessing and servicing those components which are disposed beneath the seat. Although it has been proposed to provide a completely detachable seat, the seat structure is generally heavy and cumbersome in and or itself. The problem becomes more acute when the length of the seat cushion is extended either to accommodate a rider sitting in different positions on the seat or where the seat is arranged so as to accommodate plural riders seated in tandem fashion.
It is, therefore, a principle object of this invention to provide an improved watercraft hull assembly of this general type wherein portions of the watercraft propulsion system are disposed beneath the seat and are accessible by means of a removable seat cushion portion which forms only a portion of the total seat.
As has been noted, the small personal watercraft of the type described normally employ a seating arrangement wherein the rider and possibly one or more passengers are seated in straddle fashion. Where this is done and where plural riders are accommodated, it is advantageous if the rear rider can have his head positioned slightly above that of the forward rider. In this way, the rear rider has the forward view. However, due to the small nature of these watercraft, this means that the rear positioned rider has nothing to grip in order to steady himself.
It is, therefore, a further principal object of this invention to provide a seating arrangement for a small watercraft wherein a pair of handles can be easily provided at the rear of the seat.
The type of watercraft described and particularly most personal type of watercraft generally have a passenger's area that opens through the transom of the watercraft so that the watercraft can be boarded from the body of water in which the watercraft is operating. However, it is desirable to provide some means to assist the passenger to enter the watercraft.
It is, therefore a still further object of this invention to provide an improved grab handle arrangement for the rear portion of a small watercraft for assisting entry of the watercraft at the rear from the body of water in which the watercraft is operating.